Solidification of LiCl–Li2O oxide reduction salt into sodalite by a spark plasma sintering

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - The waste LiCl–Li2O oxide reduction salt was solidified and transformed into sodalite by the spark plasma sintering method. Compared with...     

Production of Ultrafine Iron Powder by Combining Electrolysis and High-Voltage Discharge

High Energy Chemistry - Optimal conditions for producing ultrafine iron powder by combining the processes of electrolysis and high-voltage discharge have been determined. It has been established...     

Continuous Porous Aromatic Framework Membranes with Modifiable Sites for Optimized Gas Separation

Continuous microporous membranes are widely studied for gas separation, due to their low energy premium and strong molecular specificity. Porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs) with their exceptional stability and structural flexibility are suited to a wide range of separations. Main-stream PAF-based membranes are usually prepared with polymeric matrices, but their discrete entities and boundary defects weaken their selectivity and permeability. The synthesis of continuous PAF membranes is still a major challenge because PAFs are insoluble. Herein, we successfully synthesized a continuous PAF membrane for gas separation. Both pore size and chemistry of the PAF membrane were modified by ion-exchange, resulting in good selectivity and permeance for the gas mixtures H₂/N₂ and CO₂/N₂. The membrane with Br^? as a counter ion in the framework exhibited a H₂/N₂ selectivity of 72.7 with a H₂ permeance of 51844 gas permeation units (GPU). When the counter ions were replaced by BF₄^?, the membrane showed a CO₂ permeance of 23058 GPU, and an optimized CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 60.0. Our results show that continuous PAF membranes with modifiable pores are promising for various gas separation situations.     

A preliminary study on soil radon anomaly and its formation mechanism in karst area of southwest China

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Soil radon anomaly is a common phenomenon in karst areas. In this paper, the geochemical behavior of radium (Ra) in the process of carbonate rock...     

On-surface synthesis of porous graphene nanoribbons containing nonplanar [14]annulene pores

The precise introduction of nonplanar pores in the backbone of graphene nanoribbon represents a great challenge. Here, we explore a synthetic strategy toward the preparation of nonplanar porous graphene nanoribbon from a predesigned dibromohexabenzotetracene monomer bearing four cove-edges. Successive thermal annealing steps of the monomers indicate that the dehalogenative aryl-aryl homocoupling yields a twisted polymer precursor on a gold surface and the subsequent cyclodehydrogenation leads to a defective porous graphene nanoribbon containing nonplanar [14]annulene pores and five-membered rings as characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy and noncontact atomic force microscopy. Although the C–C bonds producing [14]annulene pores are not achieved with high yield, our results provide new synthetic perspectives for the on-surface growth of nonplanar porous graphene nanoribbons.     

基于Li-N2电池体系的“连续式”氮气还原合成氨

电化学合成氨近年来受到较多关注, 直接的电化学固氮法(NRR)存在产氨来源不明的问题, 而间接的锂式合成氨(LiNR)被认为是一种可行的固氮方案. LiNR的研究多为电沉积锂, 本工作以Li-N₂电池体系为基础, 利用电池的放电反应固定N₂, 质子源H₂O同时参与反应, 理论上提高了Li-N₂电池的放电电压. 结合充电反应锂盐分解, 构成了清晰的锂循环方案. 研究发现, 当N₂和H₂O共同通入电池, 可以实现连续式的NH₃生产, 且放电电位与理论值接近. 充放电循环显示, 每个循环均可以产生NH₃, 产氨量随循环次数而增加. 该方案可循环利用锂, 对于开发新型的固氮方式有较大的研究与利用价值.     

电容去离子除氯电极的构建及其脱盐性能研究进展

电容去离子技术(Capacitive deionization,CDI)是一种新兴的脱盐技术,通过在电极两端施加较低的外加电场除去水中的带电离子和分子,由于其较低的能耗和可持续性而备受关注。基于储能电池领域近年来的迅猛发展,CDI电极材料实现了从以双电层作用机理为代表的碳材料到法拉第电极材料的跨越,使得脱盐性能有了大幅度提升。Na⁺的去除与Cl^-的去除同等重要,然而,CDI中针对氯离子高效去除的电极材料研究关注较少。本文从CDI装置的构型演变发展出发,系统地归纳与梳理了CDI中关于脱氯电极材料的分类,对比了不同类型脱氯电极材料的特点,并总结了Cl^-去除的机理,分别为基于双电层的电吸附、转化反应、离子插层和氧化还原反应。本文是首篇关于CDI阳极材料的进展综述和展望,为CDI除氯电极的后续研究提供理论基础和研究思路。     

Flexible strain sensor with ridge-like microstructures for wearable applications

The flexible stretchable sensors have great potential for implementation in various applications, such as intelligent soft robots, health monitoring, and motion detection. However, most of the flexible stretchable sensors with microstructures and high sensitivities are fabricated by expensive templates and complex processes. In consideration of large-scale fabrication, a low cost and efficient way is in great demand. Herein, electroless plating on Nafion films with decent swelling ratios are proposed to fabricate stretchable sensors with wrinkle-structured electrodes. By adding isopropanol (IPA) to the electroless plating process, the H₂O-IPA sensor with larger swelling ratio shows deeper surface wrinkles, higher surface roughness, and better sensitivity to strain. At the same time, the H₂O-IPA sensor exhibit good durability (500 cycles). By mounting the sensor on the joint of human finger, the motion of the finger bending and even the bending degree can be accurately detected, indicating the potential use in the field of wearable devices and soft electronic skins.     

Insulating Polymers as Additives to Bulk-Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells: The Effect of Miscibility

Adding insulating polymers to conjugated polymers is an efficient strategy to tailor their mechanical properties for flexible organic electronics. In this work, we selected two insulating polymers as additives for high-performance photoactive layers and investigated the mechanical and photovoltaic properties in organic solar cells (OSCs). The insulating polymers were found to reduce the electron mobilities in the photoactive layers, and hence the power conversion efficiencies were significantly decreased. More importantly, we found that the insulating polymers exhibited negative effect on the mechanical properties of the photoactive layers, with reduced Young's modulus and low crack onset strains. Further studies revealed that the insulating polymers had poor miscibility with the photoactive layers, providing large domains and more cavities in blend thin films, which act as negative effect for the tensile test. The studies indicate that rational selection of insulating polymers, especially enhancing the non-covalent interaction with the photoactive layers, will be critically important for the stretchable OSCs.     

Optimizing the Photovoltaic Performance of Organic Solar Cells for Indoor Light Harvesting

Organic solar cells (OSCs) harvesting indoor light are highly promising for emerging technologies, such as internet of things. Herein, the photovoltaic performance of PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM solar cells constructed using “optimized (with 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO))” and “non-optimized (without DIO)” processing conditions are compared for indoor and outdoor applications. We find that in comparison to the “optimized” solar cell, the “non-optimized” solar cell is less efficient under simulated solar light illumination (100 mW cm⁻², spectral range 350–1100 nm), owing to significant bimolecular charge carrier recombination losses. However, under simulated indoor illumination (3.28 mW cm⁻², spectral range 400–700 nm), bimolecular recombination losses are effective suppressed, thus the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell without DIO was increased to 14.7 %, higher than that of the solar cell with DIO (14.2 %). These results suggest that the common strategy used to optimize the OSCs could be undesired for indoor OSCs. We demonstrate that the efforts for realizing the desired “morphology” of the active layer for the outdoor OSCs may be unnecessary for indoor OSCs, allowing us to realize high-efficiency indoor OSCs using a non-halogenated solvent.